The World in Color

And a Child Shall Lead Us

I don’t tend to do a deep dive in the daily news, but I do try to stay up-to-date with what’s going on in the world. If you watch the standard news sources, you get this looming sense that there’s nothing positive or hopeful about world events. If you read social media sites, so many are angry and distraught and sure that we are all doomed. My grandchildren don’t see life that way and spending time with them reminds me that there is so much good and exciting and positive all around us. So this poem is a reminder: don’t forget to look for the color among the gray.

What to make of a world fueled by hatred and wars?
Abuse of power, squashing of dreams,
Stealing of freedoms, victimizing the voiceless,
Starving the creative souls of those who would spread beauty.
The news all gray and bleak, future seems doomed
The failure of promise, demise of hope.

And yet….
The child sees magic, reads between the lines,
Whose love is innocent, natural and undefined.
Who sees color, light, joy in the living,
An endless stream of curiosity and playfulness,
Generosity, kindness, seeking for friendship.
Sparked by trust that good wins over evil every time.

So then…..
Dig deep as that child in a sandbox of buried treasure
Unearth the assurance that is there to be found.
Embrace that undamaged faith, unfiltered optimism,
Untamped glee at finding a sparkling stone
To be given freely to one who looks sad and alone.  
That child lives in all of us, free to see the world in color.